LOS ANGELES, CA – A 21-year-old Pico Rivera man has been sentenced to more than five years in state prison for a high-speed crash on the 101 Freeway that killed two of his passengers, prosecutors said.
Leonardo Rodriguez was sentenced Aug. 14 to five years and four months in prison after previously pleading guilty to two felony counts of gross vehicular manslaughter.
The fatal crash occurred on Oct. 31, 2024, while Rodriguez was driving a Honda Accord southbound on the 101 Freeway through the Newbury Park area at approximately 5:26 a.m.
Three passengers were inside the vehicle, including Rodriguez’s girlfriend and two friends.
According to prosecutors, Rodriguez reached speeds of approximately 124 mph as he traveled south on the freeway.
As he approached a slower-moving vehicle in the right-hand lane just north of Wendy Drive, Rodriguez attempted to pass it by suddenly driving onto the shoulder.
A tractor-trailer was parked on that shoulder.
Rodriguez crashed into the tractor-trailer at high speed.
The force of the impact ejected two passengers from the Honda.
Rodriguez’s girlfriend, Serenity Rizkalla, was seated in the front passenger seat. His friend Michael Estrella was sitting in the right rear seat.
Both were ejected from the car and pronounced dead at the scene.
A third passenger, who had been sitting in the left rear seat, survived the crash and was transported to a hospital with minor injuries.
Rodriguez also suffered minor injuries and received medical treatment.
Prosecutors said investigators found no evidence that alcohol or drugs contributed to the collision.
Instead, the criminal case centered on Rodriguez’s speed and driving decisions in the moments before the crash.
Information reviewed by Street People indicates prosecutors treated the roughly 124-mph speed and the decision to use the freeway shoulder to pass another vehicle as key circumstances in establishing gross negligence.
Rodriguez eventually pleaded guilty on June 25, 2026, to two felony counts of gross vehicular manslaughter.
The plea eliminated the need for a trial and moved the case directly toward sentencing.
On Aug. 14, Ventura County prosecutors announced that Rodriguez had been sentenced to five years and four months in state prison.
“At 124 miles per hour there’s no margin for error,” prosecutor George Brietigam said.
“The deaths of Serenity Rizkalla and Michael Estrella were the foreseeable result of the defendant’s shockingly poor judgment and dangerous choices,” he added.
Brietigam described the crash as preventable and said the consequences would remain with the victims’ families permanently.
“This tragedy was preventable, and their families will forever live with the consequences,” he said. “We hope today’s sentence provides their loved ones with some measure of closure.”
The case demonstrates how a traffic collision can become a felony prosecution even when investigators find no evidence of intoxication.
Under California law, gross vehicular manslaughter cases can focus on whether a driver acted with gross negligence while committing an unlawful driving act that caused another person’s death.
In Rodriguez’s case, prosecutors pointed to extreme speed and the attempt to overtake another vehicle on the freeway shoulder.
The Honda was traveling more than twice the speed of a typical freeway limit when the collision occurred.
Authorities have not said how long Rodriguez had been driving at approximately 124 mph before reaching the area near Wendy Drive.
They also have not released information about whether the occupants were wearing seat belts at the moment of impact.
The two fatalities occurred immediately after the collision, while the surviving passenger and Rodriguez escaped with comparatively minor injuries.
That contrast formed part of the devastating outcome of the crash: four people were traveling together, but only two survived.
The tractor-trailer had been parked on the shoulder when Rodriguez attempted the pass.
No information provided in the case indicates that the truck driver contributed to the collision.
Prosecutors likewise said there was no evidence that alcohol or narcotics impaired Rodriguez.
The prosecution therefore focused on the choices he made while driving.
The case remained in the criminal court system for nearly two years before Rodriguez entered his guilty plea in June 2026.
His August sentencing formally concluded the prosecution.
Rodriguez will now serve his sentence in state prison.
The five-year, four-month term reflects his convictions on two felony counts tied to the deaths of Rizkalla and Estrella.
Their deaths remain the central consequence of a crash prosecutors said could have been avoided had Rodriguez not driven at such an extreme speed and attempted to pass using the freeway shoulder.
No additional defendants were identified in the case.
